1. Field of Invention
This invention relates generally to manufacturing processes, and more particularly, to automated toolpath generation that can be used in deposition processes.
2. Background of the Invention
Shaped metal deposition (SMD) is an additive manufacturing method that deposits metal via Gas Tungsten Arc Welding (GTAW) methodically in a manner that generates a 3-D geometry. The current methods of producing toolpaths for the SMD process are highly inefficient as described below.
Traditional CNC toolpath generation (i.e. raw stock is used and the excess material is cut away to get the final product) software is employed and proceeds through several software packages prior to generating useable deposition path codes. Since no supports are used for building complex geometric features in CNC toolpath generation, parts that are deposited in the X-Y plane are rotated or the material feed head is moved to a position other than vertical for deposition. Therefore, traditional .STL files (in the StereoLithograpghy file format, incorporated herein by reference in its entirety), slice file, and vector code software cannot be applied as the parts must be rotated.
In additional prior art methods and systems, a computer aided drafting (CAD) drawing, having a 3-D geometry of the part to be built using the SMD Process, is obtained. Code for a mold to produce the part is extracted from the CAD data. Next, a toolpath is created to machine the actual mold. The mold toolpath code is then reverse engineered to determine the actual code to produce the part. This adds programming time and is cumbersome. In some cases, the time for creating the control program for generating the 3-D geometry is more than twice the actual build time of the part.
In view of the above, what is needed is a method and system for creating toolpaths that convert vector representations to machines instructions.